So what is the price of billings? Most places say Billings is $59 (US). That translates to £30 in the UK.

After clicking on "buy" on the website, why do I get quoted £39 (UK)? That translates to $76???

Hi Drumhum,

Because of constant fluctuation in exchange rates, we have a market price for each geographical location, that is based on things like comparable software, the economy, etc., so it won't always workout as a straightforward exchange rate. The store automatically detects your geographical location so there is no way around this. This is also the same for many other products, such as Mac computers. I checked the pricing on a Macbook in Ireland (for example) vs. Canada and it was a lower price here as well.

Thanks for responding on this but I fail to see your reasoning. We are talking download software here. Comparing to Mac computers is not the same. Hardware needs importing, stockpiling etc.

I'm sure I'm not alone in being happy to pay "in dollars", coping with the ever fluctuating exchange rate myself.

All I see is that you are making more money from your UK customers. Perhaps you are not alone in charging UK customers a premium but that doesn't make it justified.

I have to say the price puts me off a great deal. nearly £40 is very steep for a pretty basic invoice package. As much as I applaud your work, there are still a few "rough edges" to this software in the functionality and documentation. This would be far easier to swallow if it cost less.


iRatchet is £21.84
need I say more?

Hi Drumhum,

I understand your point, but please also be aware that it also does cost us more to market the products in the UK. We are in Retail outlets there, so we have to maintain price parity between distribution and online.

I didn't realise there was a "boxed version".

I appreciate this makes things a bit different.

We appreciate your understanding.

Can you list off some locations we can pick up a boxed version?

Why isn't there an option on the site to purchase a "real" copy for those of us who like to have boxes for software on the site?

Hi Thomas,

You should be able to pickup a copy of Billings at your local Apple store.

There's a few reasons we don't offer a boxed version on our webstore; it takes longer for the customer to receive the product, the disc in the box likely contains an older build of Billings compared with what's available for download from our webstore (resulting in people installing the older version, then having to upgrade as opposed to doing this in one step), and lastly it would cost money to ship the products.

Hi Ryan

The discussion above was illuminating and helpful for understanding differential pricing for a product that is also available boxed in stores. However, the reasoning seems invalid for the pricing of upgrades, like the 2.5 to 3.0 Billings upgrade. Since there is no box in stores for the upgrade and since there is no distribution cost for upgrades to the UK, there seems little basis for differential pricing.

Why not let the customers manage exchange rates by paying in dollars?

I can't help thinking that the differential pricing is to your advantage and that you do it because you can get away with it. As the OP said, it is not a lot of money, it is the principle of it. Your policy is at odds with most of the rest of the Mac software community.

David.

You think that Marketcircle are bad? Look at Adobe! Upgrade to the lastest CS4 Design Premium is $599 in the US, but £605 in the UK - that's $1124 at the current exchange rate. Blatant profiteering.